276 
H. A. SPENCEK. 
in the poisoning the heart’s action became irregular and inter¬ 
mittent, and the pulsations, which had been rapid, grew slow 
and feeble. In some cases special senses seemed to be destroy¬ 
ed, and coldness of the surface was a marked symptom. 
Fleming, in his Manual of Veterinary Science and Police, 
says : “ The ergot of rye, wheat, etc., has given rise to exten¬ 
sive disease in man, animals and birds, marked by convulsions, 
paralysis, dry gangrene of the limbs, loss of hair and horn, 
and other strange phenomena.” 
The above summary of the general symptoms caused by 
poisonous doses of ergot show that the phenomena are mainly 
paralytic in their nature, and, on the whole, it is probable that 
the chief action of the drug is upon the nerve centers. Now, 
Mr. President and gentlemen, as it would occupy too much 
of your valuable time for me to give you a description of the 
many experiments and observations that have been made with 
this drug, both in this and other countries, I will proceed to 
give you a concise report of the disease as brought under my 
notice in Santa Clara County, this State. 
The animals that I have been consulted about had been fed 
on hay grown on what is known as the Bascom ranch, situa¬ 
ted near the town of Santa Clara. Said ranch is on rather 
high ground, the soil being of that rich black character known 
in this country as adobe. It is extremely productive, and in 
no way distinctive from adjacent places, where a superior 
quality of hay has been produced annually for more than a 
quarter of a century, and the use of which has never proved 
deleterious to horses, cattle, sheep or hogs; but when forced 
to eat the hay grown on the ranch in question the loss of 
hoofs, horns, manes and tails is by no means an unusual occur¬ 
ence—horses and even cows exhibiting all the symptoms of 
acute laminitis and shedding, as I before stated, their hoofs 
or horns, as the case may be. 
The following symptoms are as exhibited by the animals 
that came under my observation: Tenderness and heat in 
the feet; swelling at the coronet; great disinclination to move; 
temperature considerably elevated for the first few days, but 
gradually subsiding; secretions normal; appetite voracious. 
At the expiration of a week or ten days the lameness some- 
